S52 Brilliantrot 318is from Australia

[jsta1109]

Not a big update but the parts I needed have arrived and I spent a bit of time refreshing the pedal box. All new delrin bushings for the pedals, I had to source a different brake pedal as the one in my car had a roller/needle bearing instead of a bushing. I purchased all the small rubber grommets that the return springs for the clutch and accelerator clip into. Lightly greased the metal pins and reassembled. Before throwing it back in the car I attached my new throttle cable and clutch fluid hose, then cut a new neoprene gasket out for the firewall.




Putting it back in the car wasn't fun, on a RHD car you need to feed the brake booster rod through some small gaps before you bolt it up. Took me quite a few hours getting it positioned right and bolted down properly. I planned on getting the transmission on after this but ultimately ran out of time.

[jsta1109]

Oh okay , yeah . Forgot about air sap and all that stuff that american market has . Tbh mine coming from a euro car (all our cars are euro here) they don't even have 02 sensors haha , still not sure how the ecu works .. but i can tell that with s52 cams and m50 manifold it for sure adapted really good !

About the temp , if you did that now yeah , you were quite hot ! i haven't done that so ik at 3/4 mark is like 95 degrees witch is not bad for the engine at all. I might do the needle thing in the future because i don't like it going all the way up there haha.

btw , i'm down for that s52 comparisons ! S2.93 will be really sweet gear ratio for that zf , i'm using a 3.64 atm .. i went from 40-200 at same speed as a friend m3 e46 hahaha . will change gears soon tho , so bad for road trips

I'll be running this as close to an Australian delivered 328i as I can, so basically no SAP and a very basic charcoal canister. S52 intake for now just means no adapters or aftermarket parts, less things to go wrong really. I want to drive this setup more, I often found myself not driving the previous setup as often as I'd like because I was constantly modifying / fixing things.

S2.93 should be really nice, my objective once again is to drive the car as much as possible, so road manners are really important to me. Getting an extra 10hp at the expense of driveability and streetability is something I'm not as keen on anymore. One of the reasons for switching back to rubber engine mounts over poly as well.

[QuiqueUy]

At this point I'll run the S52 intake with most of the stock ccv setup and using the factory E30 charcoal canister. I wanted to do some logging and see what untuned vs tuned will do on the S52 intake and then swap over to the M50 intake and try the same. My previous M50 vacuum setup ditched the OBD2 ccv and if I was to use it again I want to try the conversion method were you cut and epoxy the OBD2 plate on the bottom. My previous attempts at a diy conversion always caused issues.

I am aware the M5x engines do run hotter, I actually moved my needle back to around the middle of 1/4 and 1/2 when the ecu saw about 83c. I think 3/4 on the gauge puts it at around 110c and it wasn't slowing down. In any case the fan that I used wasn't capable of keeping the AC and engine cool.

Oh okay , yeah . Forgot about air sap and all that stuff that american market has . Tbh mine coming from a euro car (all our cars are euro here) they don't even have 02 sensors haha , still not sure how the ecu works .. but i can tell that with s52 cams and m50 manifold it for sure adapted really good !

About the temp , if you did that now yeah , you were quite hot ! i haven't done that so ik at 3/4 mark is like 95 degrees witch is not bad for the engine at all. I might do the needle thing in the future because i don't like it going all the way up there haha.

btw , i'm down for that s52 comparisons ! S2.93 will be really sweet gear ratio for that zf , i'm using a 3.64 atm .. i went from 40-200 at same speed as a friend m3 e46 hahaha . will change gears soon tho , so bad for road trips

[jsta1109]

Currently waiting on parts so time to sort the wiring. I purchased a new to me M52 harness and trimmed the auto connector and wiring out of the loom, repined the C101 with a new connector and new pins.

I've left a few wires loose near the c101, a few of these are for the AC idle bump and wiring for the planned OBD2 connector now that I've flashed MS41.2. I may have to reroute these into the cabin near the battery tray. The big red power cable pictured in the last image I can remove.

One thing I've also noted is some harnesses (MS41 euro) come with a third relay near the battery tray, from what I've traced this is power to the coils and the trigger is the green ews wire from the ECU. In theory I should be able to remove this relay and battery connection and just connect the coils to a similar gauge switched source. Either that or keep the relay and connect the green ews wire at the C101 to the ignition wire which is what I've done in the past.

[jsta1109]

I've always wanted to shorten the nub on the water pump, but was too worried it would leak. Hoping for a success story so I can do the same

I've done it before, on this particular pump I've cut only the threaded section off. If anything bad happens I'm sure you'll see it here.

Love the car and the updates! you going to keep the s52 intake or you going to put the m50 one?

in regard of the photo you uploaded with your temp almost at 3/4 . My car has the same problem , i just logged with my pc on the obd2 port and watched real temps and got into the conclusion that my pusher fan was kicking at 94 degrees , witch is not bad at all . A bit odd since i put the 80/88 temp switch , i also thought it was because my fan is not 100% touching rad , witch i changed now .. but everything is still the same haha.
Another conclusion i had about it , m20s or m10 (in my case) are way cooler than m5x , so the cluster of a 6 cyl has different margins for the temp . (at least is what i make myself believe so haha)

keep it up man !

At this point I'll run the S52 intake with most of the stock ccv setup and using the factory E30 charcoal canister. I wanted to do some logging and see what untuned vs tuned will do on the S52 intake and then swap over to the M50 intake and try the same. My previous M50 vacuum setup ditched the OBD2 ccv and if I was to use it again I want to try the conversion method were you cut and epoxy the OBD2 plate on the bottom. My previous attempts at a diy conversion always caused issues.

I am aware the M5x engines do run hotter, I actually moved my needle back to around the middle of 1/4 and 1/2 when the ecu saw about 83c. I think 3/4 on the gauge puts it at around 110c and it wasn't slowing down. In any case the fan that I used wasn't capable of keeping the AC and engine cool.

[QuiqueUy]

Love the car and the updates! you going to keep the s52 intake or you going to put the m50 one?

in regard of the photo you uploaded with your temp almost at 3/4 . My car has the same problem , i just logged with my pc on the obd2 port and watched real temps and got into the conclusion that my pusher fan was kicking at 94 degrees , witch is not bad at all . A bit odd since i put the 80/88 temp switch , i also thought it was because my fan is not 100% touching rad , witch i changed now .. but everything is still the same haha.
Another conclusion i had about it , m20s or m10 (in my case) are way cooler than m5x , so the cluster of a 6 cyl has different margins for the temp . (at least is what i make myself believe so haha)

keep it up man !

[Northern]

I've always wanted to shorten the nub on the water pump, but was too worried it would leak. Hoping for a success story so I can do the same

[jsta1109]

Finally decided to swap the engines over as I had a long weekend. Engine out.



M52 (Euro/Alloy) and S52 windage trays are apparently different, so I did have to make a new bracket off the S52 tray. I haven't touched the welder for a while and initially the settings were too low, eventually got it and I don't think it is going anywhere.

Welded the oil pump nut, once again not pretty but should hold okay.


Cut the water pump nut off, much easier off the car.



Double checked timing and prepped for valve cover gasket. I rebuilt the vanos unit a while back.

Quick mock up to motivate me.


Decided to redo the low pressure line as the previous setup was rubbing the sump, much easier to do this when the engine is out of the car. I found an old banjo fitting that was the right size, cut off the throttle body heater barb (and welded shut as I won't use this), and welded it onto the banjo. Very happy with this weld, I could see decent penetration and tested it off the car and it didn't appear to leak.

Previous setup was just a straight banjo to AN fitting with a barb. It was hard against the rack and sump/block with this setup.

Previously I had zip-ties trying to hold lines in place and out of the way, purchased some p-clamps and got everything positioned much better. No more fouling or rubbing lines.

Really happy with how this turned out and with minimal time and effort too. Once the power steering reservoir and pump at bolted in position the lines don't touch the sway bar.


Rear main seal and valeo single mass kit installed. Hopefully the heavier flywheel will dampen noise compared to the previous setup. I had a 3.7kg flywheel with the Getrag 240 and with the clutch out it had some pretty serious rattle. It did sound like the car was broken.


And now the S52 is in its new home. Much easier this time around as I wasn't in a rush to get it back together.


This is where I finished for the weekend, another quick mock up to make it feel like a car again. Still plenty of things to do.


Not pictured is I removed the pedal box and rebuilt it with delrin bushings. I think grinding dust from the rust repair had accelerated wear on the original components causing some light binding and noise. Still waiting on the rubber grommets for the return springs to arrive before putting it back into the car. Speaking of pedals I also got a new throttle cable, these are cheap and I wasn't really happy with the old cable feel before. Finally, I left the Clio booster on the car, I do have a Mk1 Golf booster as well, I mocked this up to match the lengths of a standard E30 booster off the car. I may end up swapping this as the Clio booster is shorter at the clevis end and requires a ~20mm spacer in the master cylinder. The only downside to this is the golf booster is about 1.5" small in diameter but it is slightly deeper. So volume should be similar but may have a little less assist.

I still need to attach the gearbox and driveshaft, the driveshaft collar nut had disintegrated so I need a new one of those and while I wait I ordered a new CSB.

I also decided to remove the revshift 95a engine mounts and run the e28 rubber mounts, I really did like the fit of the revshift bushes and I would run them again but I would probably go for the 80a. The rubber bushings should be fine. I used the black cylindrical ones on both sides and a tip for new players is cut the threads down. If you ever need to replace them, very difficult to remove with the long threads.

[jsta1109]

Slack as always, no updates for a while but motivation to work on this car has kicked in again.

There have been a few changes since I lasted posted. I sold my HSV and purchased a dog and a Honda Civic. (Please excuse the poor quality images)



I purchased the Honda from the original owner of 22 years, unfortunately for them and for me it had been overheated and now pouring coolant out the exhaust. It looks like the radiator cap had failed to release pressure, bursting a coolant hose and loosing all the coolant.



I pulled the engine and sourced a good donor from a wreckers.



Put it back together and it has been my daily since.



I've done the rear disc swap, found some budget wheels, swapped a DC5R wheel that I retrimmed and found an $80 Recaro.



To make up for the Honda content and poor quality images, I have a few more photos from a track day last year.





Since the last update the E30 has sat unused. It has been neglected and I really didn't have the motivation to work on it and or use it. I'll blame it on the process of building a house. Now the house build is underway my motivation has returned. I would like to swap the S52/ZF in and get the car in a good working state before moving into the new house. I assume my focus will shift to getting settled and the car will have to be parked for some time.

As it stands now I've swapped the 3.73 open diff for my 2.93 LSD, took it for a test drive with the Getrag 240 and while the gearing was really poor the lockup was great. I've now pulled the Getrag 240 and stripped the accessories off the M52.





I pulled my existing harness off the M52, it was poorly done when I first swapped the engine. The new harness has been converted using new pins and good quality crimp tools. I also really rate the de-pin tool from Falk MFG.





I'm not quite finished with it yet, I'm planning to add an OBD2 port and wire in a relay to have a functioning AC idle bump. I am putting this harness together without using solder or low quality wire. Prior to pulling everything apart I flashed MS41.2 and copied my existing maps over as well, when I do put the S52 in I should only have to do a partial flash of a factory US M3 map.



This is the old harness, hard to see but lots of cloth tape hiding a lot of dodgy work.



This is where I am at, taking my time this time around. I plan on pulling the engine and dropping the S52 in shortly. I have also recently acquired a AC/DC Tig welder. I have some new to me factory headers and plan on putting together a new stainless exhaust, dual 2 inch. I haven't done any TIG welding before but I'll see how I go. Worst case I have an exhaust that works.



I also noted that last time I used the car, the AC was weak. It looks like I have a small leak, I think it is coming from the low pressure fill port. I also recall needing an alignment after the motorkhana day, I think I might have dropped the wheel onto the grass a few times. I would also like to address the undercoating job I did when I did my rust repair, I now have a better compressor and spray equipment, spraying an aerosol upside down doesn't work very well and I am a bit disappointed with the end result.

[jsta1109]

I may have the same issue awaiting for me. I haven't tested my rear speakers yet. Here's a couple of 5.25 split sets:

Alpine SPG-13CS
Alpine SPR-50C
Ground Zero GZRC 130AL
Pioneer TS-G130C

Granted, I haven't measured how much room there is for the woofer. Some of these are quite a bit chunkier than the original elements.

I ended up finding some E36 40w woofers for $10, not sure how I will go about adapting them but I'm sure I will work it out once they're shipped to me.

I went to a motorkhana day (auto cross ish) and had a blast, the open diff was a huge letdown and a big smoke show. I really do need to get the ZF+LSD in, possibly would of helped if I had lowered the rear more and unhooked the rear sway bar.





There should be some more photos coming.

[Skarpa]

I may have the same issue awaiting for me. I haven't tested my rear speakers yet. Here's a couple of 5.25 split sets:

Alpine SPG-13CS
Alpine SPR-50C
Ground Zero GZRC 130AL
Pioneer TS-G130C

Granted, I haven't measured how much room there is for the woofer. Some of these are quite a bit chunkier than the original elements.

[jsta1109]

received_3298530780204298 by Josh Stacey, on Flickr
received_305988120615920 by Josh Stacey, on Flickr

I purchased some premium speakers that looked okay online, they were priced pretty well and I think the rear deck looks really nice. Turns out the woofers are blown, I can't get them to work or respond to a 9v battery. I can't seem to find any decent 5.25 splits to go in their place, trying to source replacements is proving either difficult or rather expensive. We never got these in Australia, at least I don't think we did as I very rarely see them.

[jsta1109]

jsta1109 - thanks for posting the pic of the bearing. Just so happens I am about to take my 5 blade fan apart to change the bearing and I happened upon your post...saved me some time getting it ordered before disassembly.

FYI - ebay has many legit bearing suppliers who have this in stock for about $8 shipped. You can also find versions with the rubber seals (C3 designation) and metal shields (ZZ designation).


Car is looking great and you have done a ton of super clean work.




MJ

Glad it helped someone.

I got the bearing locally just to save time on shipping, it does appear to be a high quality sealed bearing, should last quite some time.

The 5 blade fan looks to be the easiest to do this on, undo the reverse thread nut, pull the blades off and drill the retainer plate out. I had a curved blade fan that I could't quite separate and another spare motor that I couldn't easily remove the bearing from.

[mjweimer]

jsta1109 - thanks for posting the pic of the bearing. Just so happens I am about to take my 5 blade fan apart to change the bearing and I happened upon your post...saved me some time getting it ordered before disassembly.

FYI - ebay has many legit bearing suppliers who have this in stock for about $8 shipped. You can also find versions with the rubber seals (C3 designation) and metal shields (ZZ designation).


Car is looking great and you have done a ton of super clean work.




MJ

[jsta1109]

The bearings are replaceable - I did one a few years back & just disassembled the fan & replaced the stock bearing with a sealed SKB bearing of the correct size. The sealed bearing should last a lifetime and the repair only cost about $3. The stock BMW fans move a surprising amount of air - if you want an upgrade over the standard e30 aux fan, an e32/e34 one is a good upgrade with curved blades + 16 inch diameter.

I just went and did this, replaced the fan and everything is working great again. Car isn't overheating and aircon is working. I went and purchased a 5 blade aux fan, paid next to nothing for this. Replacing the bearing was simple, drilled the 4 rivets out on the bearing retainer and the bearing just fell out. Bearing was a SKF 6001, found a generic replacement at my local parts shop for $9. Dropped the bearing in, threw two tack welds in place of the rivets and reassembled. Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk